The recent town hall meetings held on campus have given me a weird sense of déjà vu.

Over the past few weeks, I sat in the Mabee Center as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich eloquently spoke on the advantages of small government, prompting thousands of conservatives around me to sporadically erupt into a frenzy of excitement.

I can vividly remember, however, packing into the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland four years ago to hear their liberal opponent speak with similar effect. Sen. Barack Obama logically explained the advantages of big government in a way that compelled nearly everyone in attendance to embrace such beliefs.

Ironically, the liberal supporters at this event were strangely similar to those gathered in the Mabee Center. I’m convinced that, although they hold completely different views, both sides are equally biased to their party’s platform and ideology.

Now, as a young Christian American searching for truth and burdened with the responsibility of selecting the right leaders for this nation, I’m faced with a difficult question: who is right?

I wish I could say that the Republican Party was God’s party, and that every Republican candidate is substantially better for the nation than their liberal opponents. But that’s simply not true.

The reality is that both parties have some truth and both have lies. What I’ve found is that many Christians argue that the partial truth their political party holds is absolute truth, and the partial truth the other side holds is absolutely evil.

I compare it to two students sitting in the top row of the balcony during chapel. As Dr. Rutland stands far below on the stage, one student says that Dr. Rutland is wearing red, but the other denies this claim and assures him that Dr. Rutland is wearing black.

In actuality, Dr. Rutland’s tie is red and his shoes are black, but his suit is a murky shade of gray.

It would be easy and convenient if one side was completely right on every issue and one side was completely wrong, but we live in a fallen world with fallen people, and sin unfortunately doesn’t discriminate between political parties.

I understand that it is tough to make any sort of political impact without the structure of political parties. As Christians, however, we shouldn’t be bound and subjected to political parties either.

My goal is not to promote a degree of political relativism, where no standard for truth exists. What I’m suggesting is that as citizens seeking to make an impact in the world of politics, we humbly remember that “now we know in part,” and “we see but a poor reflection as through a mirror.”

So am I a Republican or a Democrat? That’s a good question. The only answer I can give definitively is that I’m an American. Ultimately, that is the only affiliation that really matters.